When unheralded point guard Teven Jones signed with Virginia in November, his coach at Fishburne Military School said Cavaliers fans would be pleasantly surprised.

“I think I’ve got a pretty good idea of who can play at what level,” Ed Huckaby, a former assistant coach at Hampton University, told me. “Teven is a very, very good player. He’s real smart, knows how to run a team. …

“He ran a 4.3 40 and was an all-state [North Carolina] football player [receiver] in high school. He’s really tough and really athletic. I mean really, really athletic.”

Now comes news that by the time Jones debuts for Virginia next season, he’ll be much more acquainted with his teammates.

Huckaby told the Augusta Free Press that Jones is leaving Fishburne, where he’s a post-graduate student, a semester early to enroll at U.Va., and begin practicing with the Cavaliers. In essence, one half of a redshirt year.

“This is a win-win for Fishburne and for Teven,” Huckaby told the Augusta paper. “This is a great opportunity for Teven and his family for him to get his college career started a little early. And for Fishburne, this is what we do, help guys move on to the next level.”

Huckaby said the move was prompted by last month’s transfers of sophomore KT Harrell and redshirt freshman James Johnson from Virginia’s program. Those departures left coach Tony Bennett with only nine scholarship players, a number that arguably compromises practices more than games.

Jones will give Bennett another body, one who can challenge starters Jontel Evans and Sammy Zeglinski and reserve Malcolm Brogden as the Cavaliers enter the teeth of the ACC schedule.

Virginia’s most challenging regular-season game figures to be Thursday at No. 8 Duke, where the Cavaliers have lost 14 straight, all by double figures, and where the Blue Devils have won 43 in a row, 18 in conference play.

“There’s a battle for tempo, no question,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “I think we understand who we are … and I would not want to get into an 80-, 90-point game with them.”

The No. 16 Cavaliers (14-1, 1-0 ACC) have yielded more than 60 points only once, that in an 83-77 victory at Seattle. They play an intricate, man-to-man, half-court defense that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski calls “beautiful.”

Debate the aesthetics all you’d like. What’s not debatable is the effectiveness.

“It’s less possessions in a game (against) Virginia, but that’s not the main thing,” Krzyzewski said on the ACC’s weekly teleconference when I asked him about Bennett’s defense. “The main thing is they understand their jobs and they play them together. They have each other’s back.

“It’s tough to get into the lane on them. They try to take away the post with the double-team all the time. But the double-team is one thing, what the other three guys are doing is where they do a great job. As that trap goes there, the other three react instinctively to where they’re supposed to be. …

“There are many different ways to play defense. The way they play it is really a beautiful way to play defense. It doesn’t force as many turnovers. But you don’t get many assists and you don’t get many second shots. … You have to shoot well against them and you have to defend them.”

“He has his system in place,” Krzyzewski said. “He has guys who have played his style of basketball, which is a very good style of basketball for a lot of reps, a lot of competitive reps. … So guys are instinctively reactive to that. … He’s an outstanding coach. …

“They know what they’re doing, not just individually but collectively. I think they’re ahead of most teams in our league right now in that regard. We’re not where they are as far as being instinctively reactive. … Hopefully we’ll come closer to that by Thursday.”

Krzyzewski has tweaked his starting lineup, replacing sophomore Tyler Thornton with freshman Quinn Cook. Cook is Duke’s best perimeter passer, according to his coach, a natural point guard, and he’s surrounded by capable scorers such as rookie guard Austin Rivers and junior forward Ryan Kelly.

The Blue Devils (13-2, 1-0) average 82.1 points, and their season-low came in an 85-63 loss at then-No. 3 Ohio State. Can Virginia approach that defensive effort?

Only if the Cavaliers are efficient offensively, unlike Saturday when they escaped Miami 52-51.

“I think we’re going to have to be exceptional on the defensive end and certainly have some completeness offensively,” Bennett said. “It can’t be … like we did against Miami, when Mike (Scott) had a real sound offensive game but we didn’t have much help from the perimeter.

“You have to try and take away as many of their easy baskets, ones maybe where they didn’t earn it or shoot a contested shot. Make them have to make some tough plays. They can get on the offensive glass, they can go it going in transition, those guys can shoot it from three. They’re a complete offensive outfit.”

How complete Virginia is defensively will be revealed Thursday.

I can be reached at 247-4636 or by e-mail at dteel@dailypress.com. Follow me at twitter.com/DavidTeelatDP